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Envir
220, Winter 2005 |
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Course Overview: We live on a human dominated planet. As human populations have expanded
and our resource consumption has increased with rising income levels,
so have our needs for agricultural products, natural resources, and land
to build homes and cities. This has transformed our planet to the point
where scientists now estimate between 39% and 50% of the earth’s surface
has been transformed by human action. This has directly led to loss of
species and habitat. It is now difficult to find an ecosystem anywhere
in the world that has not been impacted on some level by humans. A major way humans impact their environment is through the spread of
urbanization. Human populations are becoming increasingly urban, with
much new growth taking place in rural and forested areas that often surround
cities (the “urban fringe”) — often called suburbs. In many places around
the US, the area covered by urban and suburban growth is increasing faster
than population growth. This spread has many effects: transforming wetlands,
forests, and agricultural lands into built environments, impacting surface
and ground water systems, air quality, fisheries, wildlife habitat and
populations, and reducing habitat quality. Social impacts from this urbanization
include impacts on human health, quality of life, transportation, and
other economic costs. However, the impacts of urbanization extend well
beyond a discrete city and its suburbs. Cities draw resources from places
across the globe. In Seattle, for example, we consume cherries from Chile,
wood from Siberia, and apples from New Zealand. Our local city footprint
has impacts on ecosystems throughout the world. Therefore, local land
use and resource management decision often have not only regional, but
national and international effects. Urban Ecology is a field that spans many disciplines: biology, sociology, economics, urban planning, geography, ecology. It is an emerging field that focuses on the interrelationship of humans with their environment, on scales that range from local to global. Because human populations exhibit complex behavior, the study of humans and their environment must integrate the principles of social science with those of the natural sciences. This course uses a problem-based learning framework — supported by lectures — to explore the basic concepts of urban ecology and related ecological, planning, economic, and social issues. Structured discussion sections and written assignments will enable the students to analyze and evaluate real-world urban ecological problems, to develop critical thinking skills, and to work with others to evaluate alternative solutions.
Course Objectives: In addition to providing students with a basic understanding of urban ecology, this class will also prepare students to analyze and evaluate interdisciplinary research problems, whether or not they occur in human-dominated ecosystems. We aim to train students to be scientifically informed consumers of information with the ability to determine who the various stakeholders are and their perspectives pertaining to urban ecological issues, gather relevant and rigorous information, apply that information to choose multiple solutions, evaluate the tradeoffs among these solutions, and defend a particular solution. By the end of this class, students will:
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